Allowing Access at Pride Vineyards

We’re often asked by customers and of course friends and family about good places to taste wine. Depending on someone’s experience and budget, there are of course plenty of great choices in Napa Valley.

One of our favorites though is Pride Vineyards, which does a good job at making its tours easily available and appropriate if you are cellaring wine at home, or if you’re enjoying your first glass. While not a perfect fit for our wine clubs because they are both relatively large (at least in relation to the wineries we normally ship at 20,000 cases of wine per year) Pride does make some good wine.

One thing which we also love about Pride (and something which we think more wineries should do immediately) is having a more hands on area where guests can see vines up close and even try a grape off the vine. I know the first few times I are a grape directly off a vine I was incredibly surprised about sugar levels and how sweet the fruit could really become under the best growing conditions. It really is an eye opening experience for wine drinkers of all types, especially when they see the differences in sizes between grapes up close. It’s another step in the wine world demystifying itself and attempting to be more approachable. Given that virtually every winery owner and winemaker I’ve met are incredibly happy to share information about their process and are approachable, it’s good to see those same traits being passed more easily into tasting rooms.